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Intel SGX proves Blu-ray DRM is defective by design

Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Wednesday 16th of February 2022 03:51:51 AM Filed under
GNU

Eagle-eyed readers of a technical document recently published by Intel, which details upcoming changes to their line of processors, noticed that the Software Guard Extension (SGX) will soon be deprecated. The SGX provided the ability for certain areas of system memory on Intel computers to be dedicated to encrypting and decrypting information, and therefore private -- off-limits to the rest of the system in a so-called "secure enclave." Connecting the dots, readers of Intel's document soon realized that this would prevent users from viewing certain kinds of media, particularly Blu-ray discs, used primarily for their high resolution capabilities. As it always does, the DRM in these discs is now forcing an added, arbitrary restriction on top of others: in processors without the SGX, 4K streams will be downgraded to the lower-quality 1080p, even if the device is perfectly capable of playing it.

"Secure enclaves" sound nice from a privacy perspective, but when examining buzzwords like these, it's important to ask: privacy for whom? At least in principle, there's nothing wrong with offloading a system's cryptography to another part of that system, provided it can still be controlled by the user. But that's precisely where the problem is: in practice, the SGX was used by Intel to implement DRM. The security and privacy the enclave was supposed to provide its user was forked over to media conglomerates instead -- securing and hiding their misdeeds. In effect, if you're using the SGX, part of your computer is off-limits to you, like a room in your own house you're not even allowed to enter, let alone use how you would like.

The problems with Blu-ray disks are nothing new. Not content with the ways they already compromised DVDs with region codes and copy restriction mechanisms, the media cabal behind the format made them dependent on a more complex set of keys, and worse, proprietary software. The con played by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and their friends has been a long one: first convincing users that DRM was necessary to guard against "copyright infringement," and then, over time, sneaking more and more onerous restrictions into our devices in exchange for the latest superhero flick.

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